Calder: Verso a Verso pays off with My Dear Girl score

Verso a Verso, with Angel Serpa riding, is the easy winner of the My Dear Girl.

MIAMI - Owner Frank Calabrese has made some good claims over the years, with the multiple graded stakes winner Romacaca among the first to come to mind. But none returned any quicker dividends then Verso a Verso, a $16,000 acquisition by Calabrese out of her debut in August who came back to dominate Calder's $300,000 My Dear Girl Stakes by five lengths on Saturday.

Verso a Verso, a daughter of Circular Quay, rallied to a 2 3/4-length victory against a weak field of $16,000 maiden fillies on Aug. 16 while earning a Beyer Speed Figure of just 46 in the process. She did not work again for more than three weeks after changing barns and had just three slow works under her belt coming into the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl, the final leg of the filly division of the Florida Stallion Stakes.

Racing on Lasix for the first time and with jockey Angel Serpa aboard, Verso a Verso saved ground while advancing on the second turn, eased out on the second turn, quickly ran past stakes winner Candy Coded Kisses once settling into the stretch, then pulled away to an easy win. Ashlee's Princess made a big run outside horses entering the stretch and was much the best of the rest, finishing six lengths clear of third-place finisher So Blessed.

Putyourdreamsaway, a seven-length winner of the Susan's Girl Stakes in her previous start, had little left after six furlongs and finished a well-beaten sixth as the 4-5 favorite.

Verso a Verso, trained by Luis Ramirez, covered the distance in 1:49.95 over a good track and paid $23.40.

"I saw her walking over to the paddock before her first start and I liked the way she looked, so I called Luis and told him to take her," said Calabrese who was not in attendance at Calder for the My Dear Girl. "It was only $16,000, so what did we have to lose? I thought she'd want to go two turns, and Luis did a great job working with her to get her ready.

"I wasn't really planning on running her in this race, but when nothing else came up we decided to take a chance because it was for big money, and I thought she ran a very impressive race today."